ph. d. workshop how to deliver a good research talk
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Ph. D. Workshop How to Deliver a Good Research Talk. Khaled Negm, Ph.D., SMIEEE, CISM, GIAC, ACM Regional Technology Director, ISS-ME. Targets and Objectives. Meta-Targets & Objectives keep audience’s interest and attention convey technical material communicate a key idea of work - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
© 2006 Internet Security Systems. All rights reserved worldwide. Contents are property of Internet Security Systems.
Ph. D. WorkshopHow to Deliver a Good Research Talk
Khaled Negm, Ph.D., SMIEEE, CISM, GIAC, ACMRegional Technology Director, ISS-ME
© 2006 Internet Security Systems. All rights reserved worldwide. Contents are property of Internet Security Systems.
Meta-Targets & Objectives keep audience’s interest and attention convey technical material communicate a key idea of work convince audience to read your paper
Non-Targets & Objectives show people how good you are expect audience to understand most key details of your work
Targets and Objectives
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Planning Stages
Structuring Your Talk
Slides Preparation The Do’s The Don’ts
At the Talk The Do’s The Don’ts
Remarks
Outline
© 2006 Internet Security Systems. All rights reserved worldwide. Contents are property of Internet Security Systems.
Know your audience What is their background?
general CS (or EE) somewhat specialized audience highly specialized audience
If someone has spoken before you Look at paper/abstract of relevant talks that preceded yours Prepare to use context provided
Planning Stages
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If possible schedule your talk at 10:00 most people are awake few have gone back to sleep
Bad times to schedule talk right before lunch since the audience is thinking about food after lunch since the audience is more likely to be sleepy late afternoon since people will be running out of steam
Best to have room that will be comfortably crowded
Scheduling
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Use a top-down approach Introduction: define problem and present a “carrot”, put in
context, Body: high level summary of key results Technicalities: more depth into a key result Conclusion: review key results, wrap up, give future work
Structuring Your Talk
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Define the Problem minimize use of terminology use pictures/examples/props if possible
Motivate the audience (give a “carrot”) why is problem important? how does it fit into larger picture? what are applications?
Discuss related work table useful (mention authors and dates)
Provide a road-map (outline)
The Introduction
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Abstract the key results focus on a central, exciting concept
Explain significance of your work
Sketch methodology of key ideas keep it high-level, emphasizing structure use pictures/diagrams if possible provide intuition (helpful when someone later reads your
paper) gloss over technical details
The Body
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Take key result (or part of it) and go into some depth
Guide audience through difficult ideas (usually for longer talks) give overview state result show an example Review
The Technicalities
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Provide a coherent synopsis
Review key contributions and why they are important
Discuss open problems/future work
Indicate your talk is over. (For example, “Thank you. Are there any questions?”)
Be ready to answer questions If there are points you glossed over that you expect the
audience may be interested in, you may want to prepare some transparencies.
The Conclusion
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Decide what you want to say and say less!
Allow an average of 1.5–2 minutes for each transparency
Use Repetition “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Then tell
them what you told them.” Realize that 20% of your audience at any given time is
thinking about something else
Use Pictures/diagrams whenever you can
Transparency Preparation—Do’s
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Use a large font (at least 20 pt)
Make neat/orderly transparencies (computer-generated preferable)
Use color/animation (in a meaningful way)
You need not use full sentences
Transparency Prep—Do’s (cont’d)
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Number your transparencies
Write reminders, key phrases, etc. on paper
Check your spelling
If you use a transparency more than once, duplicate it
Transparency Prep—Do’s (cont’d)
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PRACTICE! give a practice for your colleagues, advisor, friends, pets, etc. be ready to redo all your transparencies practice again be sure that all your material projects on the screen make sure it does not take too much time (Beware PowerPoint’s timer!)
Transparency Prep—Do’s (cont’d)
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Overload transparencies
Intend to use too many transparencies
Put some detail on the slide that you do not want to talk about
Get bogged down in details
Transparency Preparation—Don’ts
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Show complex equations
Show code (even LISP/Scheme)
Have a transparency that introduces a point that you are unsure of (unless you want to give the audience a chance to attack you)
Present last minute results (they are probably wrong)
Write messy, write too small, misspell words
Transparency Preparation—Don’ts
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Dress appropriately—this shows respect for your audience
Have eccentricity (but not too extreme) make it fun/easy for people to remember you extreme eccentricity is bad for younger people
At the Talk—Do’s
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Be EXCITED about your work!
Remind; don’t assume
If you assume a standard result, provide the audience with a brief
Talk with Sufficient Volume
Make eye contact and “read” the audience Change victims
Be with the audience Walk toward and away from the people as well as left and right to
break down implicit barrier
At the Talk—Do’s (cont’d)
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Point to the screen, not transparency/computer monitor Use a pointer, not hand/pen
Bring props
Ask real and rhetorical questions to keep audience engaged
Deflect obstructionists tell them you’d like to talk to them after the talk (about the
interesting point made) because the point is a detail, tangential, has a long answer, you need to think about it, etc.
End on time!
At the Talk—Do’s (cont’d)
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Talk too softly, mumble, or speak in a monotone voice, use “um”, “ah”, ...
Read your transparencies
Focus attention on the screen—you’ll end up talking to the screen vs. the audience
Stand so that you block the projection
Mention a detail/point you don’t want to talk about
Darken the room (unless necessary to see) since it entices audience to sleep
Babble on when you have nothing to say
Run over time
At the Talk—Don’ts
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Follow the guidelines provided here
Take every opportunity you can to give talks (and thus get practice and feedback)
Remember that the guidelines for structuring your talk must be adapted to each specific talk
Preparing a good talk takes time; do not expect to throw it together last minute
Practice for colleagues, etc. to get feedback
AND: you will give better talks and reap the rewards that follow
Remarks